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Hurricane Isaac Response: ASPCA on the Ground

As you know, exactly seven years after Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Isaac is devastating Gulf Coast communities. Waist-high flooding has forced thousands to evacuate their homes, and as first responders work to rescue people stranded by the storm, the ASPCA is planning rescue operations for stranded and imperiled animals.

The ASPCA’s response to this crisis is only just beginning and is evolving by the minute, but we have taken the following measures:

Our top experts are working closely with the Louisiana State Animal Response Team to plan and execute rescue.

We are supplying boats and other equipment for critical water rescue missions.

We transported animals from a Mississippi shelter to make room for possible Isaac victims.

If you’re seeking a way to help, you can make a gift to the ASPCA here. The ASPCA relies on the support of compassionate people like you to conduct rescues like this one and to assist animals facing other crises.

I am part of the NDART team, the National Disaster team animal response team. I have spent hundreds of hours volunteering in terrible circumstances to help people and their pets as well as farm animals. It requires a tremendous amount of work, organization, resources and love. Working with ASAPCA, HSUS and some of the other reputable organizations is dedicated to saving lives and making sure there are happy ending. There is no perfect scenario but they try, they are skilled and professional. I am honored to be part of a large community of those who care to help. You can help as well, be involved within your community, work on a larger scale to get neutering a must an kill shelters minimized. Be thankful for those who put themselves in dangerous postions to help you and your pets!

I am sorry but it is true the ASPCA does great work rescuing the animals, but what do you think happens after the rescue is over do they keep the animals not reclaimed indefinately??? NOPE I am in Canada and one of my dogs is a Katrina rescue. They were scheduled to be put to sleep about 2 months after Katrina was over because they were over crowded and had no adopters interested. A local shelter here took quite a few dogs that were to be put to sleep and brought them up to Canada to find homes. So yes the ASPCA has good intentions but are they "no kill" nope they kill the unwanted the homeless!! So everyone should do some research before calling others names YOU ARE ALL A LITTLE BIT RIGHT!!

Sounds like someone got out on the wrong side of bed....Sounds like someone has never truly had the opportunity to
"LOVE AN ANIMAL"..Well, BUDDY, you don't know what you are talking about. Instead of make "Stupid" comments like you did, why don't you "BALL" up an adopt a wonderful companion, a loyal friend, a forgiving creature. Sounds like maybe you need to go to the "place" you mentioned regarding "CAMPS"....Think about that for a while.....Yours Truly, Ms. Very Disappointed....rr

What is wrong with you people?????????? You make me sick with your stupid negative comments and criticism. You waste time and precious energy on your eccentric and downward way of thinking when you should by using your time, energy, and money to HELP THESE PEOPLE TO HELP OTHERS. You get off on drama and you are a burden to society and our community. Go flick on "Days of Our Lives" where you really belong and shut the hell up!! So sick of BS people like you. GROW UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have ALWAYS believed and supported ASPCA and will continue to. I THANK ALL the volunteers for helping rescue the innocent animals that SHOULD NOT be left behind. I have to question why the owner(s) would do this? It breaks my heart. Animals rely ON HUMANS to help them and to leave them what the hell are they suppose to do when they look right, then left and all it is is water. If the shelters allow pets to come with the owners then I only ask that we do a better job on local news channels and other media means to advise 'BRING YOUR PETS WITH YOU'. Also, based on all the postings... I assume their are points created once it is possible for owners to reunite with their pets?? When we do we need to ask them WHY they left them in the first place and EDUCATE them of their options. THANKS YOU again VOLUNTEERS and ASPCA organization.

i know there is no perfect answer for our overpopulation problems, human and animal. I personally couldn't kill an animal unless it were sick with no hope or endangering someone. I don't turn away any that find their way to me and i neuter and try to rehome. Its not their fault if they are alone and i think they all deserve a decent life. I am not a hoarder, none of my seven dogs knows what a cage is. Thats my part in the world, and maybe making some other person feel more compassionate.

Hi folks. Thanks for all comments defending animal rescue. It is sometimes very emotionally difficult work - I have volunteered. Anyway, I really want to see if we can hear more about how the work is going in the wake of Isaac and if there is a way to volunteer to help with not just funds but actual rescue. I am still sad that I didn't follow my instinct to just get in a truck and drive down to the area to pick up strays after Katrina. Sounds like things are better this time around.

Please let us all help our pets in this crisis.My 2 American Bulldogs are my babies. When we in Ft Myers thought the storm would be bad here, I worked the night shift doing my regular day job in the hospital, while my husband was home, so I could be home with my babies during the storm, then if my husband got called in to the hospital to work. I would give my life for my babies. We all need to care for our pets as we would our children.Our pets are helpless without someone caring for them. Take the time to take care of our pets, they give us unconditional love.

I owned & operated a no kill Rescue Facility in Central North Carolina for 15 years, and was solicited often by the ASPCA for donations myself. As a resident of a high risk hurricane state, I did see a few of the victicms of the storms in my shelter via transport out of kill shelters by private sector volunteers. I did donate to the ASPCA financially, on a personal level, because of the work they do to save lives in crisis situations. A big organization like this doesn't always help the smaller Rescues like mine - but as a Rescue, I can help them, and have.